all about commUNITY :: inspiration :: accomplishment :: unity

Category: service learning

Written by Hilbert College graduate, Lauren Carlin (’19)
President – Enactus
President – Phi Beta Lambda
Vice President – Young Americans for Freedom
Secretary – Franciscan Spirit Club

Over my last four years at Hilbert College I have been involved with a variety of different student clubs and organizations. One is Enactus which is an international organization that stands for ENtrepreneurial ACTion through US. Enactus is dedicated to creating a better and more sustainable world!

Through my time in Enactus I have volunteered both locally and internationally. We have worked within the Buffalo community with the Catholic Charities Refugee Resettlement Program by creating educational workshops in the areas of budgeting, communication, and job placement to help refugee students receive a job for a sustainable life here.

In 2017, we teamed up with Akron Varsity Softball on the “Pack-A-Plane” project to collect school and recreational supplies, which were then airlifted from the Niagara Falls Airforce Base to the Dominican Republic. In total, more than 5,400 lbs. of goods, valued at over $13,000 were delivered to the community that we served called Bani, Dominican Republic. This was my first service abroad experience and the most rewarding part was seeing the children’s smiles and hearing their laughter even though they are impoverished and malnourished. Although I was there to teach and help the children, it was their innocent spirit which taught and inspired me to realize how blessed I am with the ability to be able to help others.

The following year through a connection I had at my church Hilbert Enactus formed a relationship with Ann Marie Zon the founder of the “Nicaraguan Mission Project.” We supported this organization by collecting household items and packing donations in containers in Buffalo for shipment to those in need in Nicaragua. During Winter Break 2018, Hilbert College Enactus had the opportunity to travel to Nicaragua and stay at a children’s home called Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos, meaning “our little brothers and sisters.” Over the course of the trip we organized and completed a variety of projects for the NPH community, such as creating beaded necklaces and bracelets, delivering care packages to seniors in a nursing home, bringing school supplies to the children, and digging up a large vegetable garden. One of the projects that I led was called “Lollipops for Learners” where I educated the children on how to create, market, and sell lollipops that were donated by Parkside Candy. A few days after the lesson we sold the lollipops at a beach to locals and tourists where all the profit came back to help NPH. This mission trip showed me how grateful, thankful, and blessed I am to be able to serve God and his people.

This past year Enactus students and I arranged a project called “Buffalo Serves Bani” which was a Co-Ed volleyball tournament hosted at Hilbert that was to generate funding for Hogar De Ninas Hijas de la Altagracia, a girls orphanage in the Dominican Republic. In January 2019 Enactus students participated in a service trip where all net proceeds from the event were used to create a volleyball court, fund other recreational equipment, and to help improve the overall quality of life in the community we served. During our one week journey there we completed several legacy projects as well as creating tie pillows, building structures, and teaching educational workshops to women entrepreneurs. Next year, Enactus already has plans to continue its relationship in the Dominican Republic by funding for the drilling of a water well.

None of this could have been possible without the support and encouragement of Professor Dan Roland and Dr. Amy Smith. During my time with Hilbert College Enactus I am happy and humbled to say have impacted hundreds of people and helped to make this world a better place.

On Friday, March 15th, Hilbert College students, faculty, and staff are invited to participate in our rescheduledUnity with Our Community event, a service day devoted to carrying on the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in our community. This day is an opportunity for us at Hilbert to connect with the work Dr. King advocated for and to understand the importance of taking action to promote equality, justice, respect, and compassion.

Current community partners for the day include:

716 Ministries: A community development organization that stabilizes neighborhoods by restoring neglected housing stock. The organization sells these rehabilitated homes at a low cost, to community members and first-time homebuyers, largely thanks to the faithful volunteers that serve with the agency.

Compass House: Provides runaway, homeless, and street youth with safe shelter and services. Compass House stands as one of the nation’s oldest shelter and service providers for youth of all gender identities, offering shelter, counseling, and so much more.

Food Bank of WNY: The primary hunger-relief organization in Western New York. The agency obtains nutritious food and distributes support to our community members throughout Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, and Niagara Counties.

Little Portion Friary: A volunteer-run organization that brings forth the mission of the Catholic Church to provide food for the hungry, clothing for the undressed, and shelter for the homeless.

Salvation Army in Buffalo: Provides a variety of programs and services that annually benefit over 30,000 economically disadvantaged people. The Salvation Army is an integral part of the local human service network, providing housing, clothing, nutritional, social, and spiritual assistance through a wide range of separate but interrelated programs and services.

Veterans One-Stop Center of WNY, Inc.: a nonprofit corporation offering U.S. Veterans and their families the convenience of a one-stop, barrier-free location in which to access a holistic range of social and health services in the comfort of a “home base” environment that is always welcoming, affirming and responsive to their needs.

PLEASE NOTE:If you registered for the original date for Unity with Our Community, you will need to re-register online prior to the event. Please complete the registration form online at hilbert.edu/UWOC.

On November 17, the Hilbert Center for Career and Community Engagement hosted a Donate Life Summit on the Hilbert campus. The event welcomed over 70 high school students from seven local high schools to learn about the importance of organ donation in our communities.

This event was held in partnership with Unyts, Western New York’s only organ, eye, tissue, and community blood center. Unyts established the Donate Life Club in 2004 to assist groups of students at area high schools in the planning, development, and implementation of a campaign to increase awareness about organ, tissue, and blood donation among their peers.

By participating in workshops during the event, the 70+ high school students who attended Hilbert’s Donate Life Club Summit in November were able to receive the knowledge necessary to help spread accurate information about the importance of organ, eye, tissue, and blood donation to their school and home communities. The ultimate goal of Unyts and the Donate Life Club is to establish donation as a cultural norm.

Hilbert is proud to be hosting another Donate Life Club Summit on Tuesday, December 18th. For more information, please contact Rachel Wozniak at rwozniak@hilbert.edu or by phone at (716) 926-8929.

Hilbert’s Peer Leaders led students in preparing gifts to benefit Oshei Children’s Hospital and St. Luke’s Mission of Mercy. They made fleece tie blankets, cards, and activity bags for patients and their families.

Two student organizations at Hilbert College, Enactus and Rotaract, held a dedication ceremony for “Mother Colette’s Crosswalk”. This project brought new flowers, plants, and landscaping to the area around Hilbert’s St. Clare Chapel.